Some actors choose to live life on the edge. In Sylvester Stallone‘s case, he’s about to leap off the edge and hang by a secured cable for Cliffhanger 2! That’s right, friends, the Italian Stallion is strapping in for a reboot sequel to 1993’s Cliffhanger! Stallone returns to the vertigo-inducing action property, with Ric Roman Waugh (Angel Has Fallen, Kandahar, Greenland) directing. Mark Bianculli (Hunters, Doomsday)is writing the script, with Neal H. Mortiz’s Original Film producing with Rocket Science. Stallone and Braden Aftergood’s Balboa Productions is also getting in on the producing action. Plot details for Cliffhanger 2 remain a mystery, though we know Stallone is reprising his role as Ranger Gabriel “Gabe” Walker for the sequel.
One year after starring alongside Estelle Getty in the familial comedy Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot, Sylvester Stallone strapped in for a nerve-jangling blockbuster with Cliffhanger. Directed by Renny Harlin from a screenplay co-written by Stallone and Michael France, Cliffhanger finds the Italian Stallion in the role of Gabe Walker, a Colorado Rockies Ranger on the road to recovery after a botched rescue mission. After being pulled back onto the job by an alarming distress call, Gabe and his climbing partners find themselves at the mercy of John Lithgow’s Eric Qualen and his merry band of criminal scum. Suddenly, the story transforms into a harrowing tale of redemption and survival.
Unsurprisingly, the film holds up incredibly well after all these years. During my most recent rewatch, the movie still packs an intense punch to your senses as its characters dangle from danger and dodge bullets while trudging through the snow. Cliffhanger also gives us the gift of Lithgow’s hilarious British accent, which I could not ignore, and entertains throughout the caper. As a warm-up to Stallone’s Demolition Man (released the following year), Cliffhanger is an excellent showcase for Stallone’s iconic approach to the tough-guy action genre.
“Growing up with the biggest action films of the 80s and 90s, working on many of them myself, Cliffhanger was by far one of my favorite spectacles. To be at the helm of the next chapter, scaling the Italian Alps with the legend himself, Sylvester Stallone, is a dream come true,” said Waugh. “It’s going to be a great challenge and blast taking this franchise to new heights, a responsibility I don’t take lightly.”
Added Moritz, “I’ll never forget the thrill I felt watching Sylvester Stallone in Cliffhanger. I am incredibly excited to be working with him and Ric Waugh to continue the story of Gabe Walker and introduce this iconic story to a new generation of filmgoers around the world.”
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